Chaotic structure and control of supply chain management: A model proposed for perishable products

The supply chain is a set of networks where each element, from raw material procurement to production, distribution, product delivery to the end-user, and even after-sales services, is connected to each other. Since the supply chain is a dynamic and living system, it is under the influence of many factors that change with time, requiring more careful management. There are harmony and cooperation between the elements that form the chain. The unpredictability of many factors affecting the chain, such as machine preparation times, working skills of the operators, sudden out-of-service, customer demand, can cause fluctuations in the system and major damages due to a butterfly effect. The complexity in the system created by these disruptive effects manifests itself with chaotic behaviors that are unpredictable and sensitive to initial conditions and can be explained by chaos theory. The problem addressed in this study is to reveal factors that may negatively affect the system or cause the system to collapse and examine its chaotic nature. This study aims to determine the dynamic behavior of a supply chain by identifying variables that may adversely affect the system or cause the system to crash and ensure that the system becomes stable from a chaotic state with a control technique. The study includes the following methodological steps: (i) examining supply chain dynamic models and state variables, (ii) detecting the presence of chaos in the supply chain, (iii) implementing a control method to ensure that the system changeover from chaos to a regular state, (iv) proving that the system has shifted to hyperchaos by adding a new variable to the model, (v) examining the dynamic behavior of the model at different fractional orders, (vi) designing a new supply chain dynamic equation and analyzing its chaotic behavior, (viii) ensuring the control of the new chaotic supply chain model using active control method. In this study, it was revealed that a state variable added to the chaotic supply chain model could make the system hyperchaotic, and the hyperchaotic supply chain system could be stabilized using a control method. In addition, the dynamic equation model of the supply chain for perishable products was created for the first time, a chaotic analysis was made, and it was ensured that the system became steady with the active control method.